Bard's Model UN team began the year with a bang last weekend at Columbia University! First-year Brian Harris (far right) won an award for his role as an MP from the Bangalore South District in the Northern Democratic Alliance Election Convention.http://debate.bard.edu/

Bard students in the vocal arts program will perform on campus and at Red Hook High School Nov. 5–6 to raise funds for The Trevor Project, for suicide prevention and LGBT youth. http://www.youarenotalonebenefit.com/

Lots of Bardians appear in "Views from the Avant-Garde" as part of the New York Film Festival this coming weekend: Jessie Stead '07, Bobby Abate '02, and Andrew Lampert '79 in the screening Bitches Brew on 10/7 and 10/10; Fern Silva '11, Dani Leventhal, and Bobby Abate in Looking Through a Glass Onion on 10/8 and 10/10; Dani Leventhal and Kelly Egan '06 in Cabinet of Curiosities on 10/8 and 10/10; Fern Silva and Jesse Cain '06 in The Red and the Black on 10/9. Dani Leventhal and film/video co-chair Les LeVeque have installation work on view all four days.http://www.filmlinc.com/nyff2011/pages/views-from-the-avant-garde/

September 2011

"We yearn to control and master the future, and one corollary of that is our deep wish to cede control over our lives to the hyper-rationality, objectivity, and reliability of machines," writes Arendt Center director Roger Berkowitz. http://www.hannaharendtcenter.org/?p=1153

The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) of Great Britain has invited renowned Romanian émigré author and Bard College writer in residence Norman Manea to become a Fellow of RSL. The Royal Society of Literature was founded by King George IV in 1820, to “reward literary merit and excite literary talent.” Manea is the first Romanian writer to be honored by the prestigious British institution. http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2167

The Bard College Conservatory of Music has received a generous $9.2 million gift from Bard alumnus Laszlo Z. Bito, class of 1960, for the construction of The Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Conservatory Building. This state-of-the-art teaching and performance facility addresses the growing needs of the Conservatory, brought on by its fivefold growth since its founding in 2005. With an anticipated completion date of January 2013, the building is scheduled to begin construction in October. The design of the building, by Deborah Berke & Partners Architects in New York City, supports the Conservatory's dedication to providing top-level musical training in the context of a liberal arts education. A groundbreaking ceremony for The Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Conservatory Building will take place on Saturday, October 29 at 11:30 a.m., adjacent to the Milton and Sally Avery Arts Center at Bard College.http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2166

On five Monday afternoons, from September 12 through November 28, Bard's fall 2011 First-Year Seminar program, "Self and Society in the Liberal Arts," offers a series of lectures and related events. All the events are free and open to the public and begin at 4:45 p.m. in Sosnoff Theater in the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts.http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2165

This September, the Bard Free Press, Bard College’s student newspaper, and the Bard Center for Civic Engagement present the Free Press Journalism Seminar Series, featuring leading journalists, newspaper publishers, writers, and scholars discussing the state of journalism today, from the role of journalists in society to ways of becoming a journalist.http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2159

Roughly half a century after first arriving, as a budding “scientist of totality,” to teach and abide at Bard College, Robert Kelly ambled with ursine grace across the stage in Olin Auditorium and assumed the lectern. Dusk was gathering on a chilly evening, and the enthusiastic crowd—consisting of colleagues, students, administrators, and various representatives of the arts intelligentsia from surrounding communities and farther afield—was there to celebrate his eternally youthful tenure as Bard’s unofficial poet in residence.http://issuu.com/ktrabucco/docs/fallbardian2011?mode=window&backgroundColor=%23222222

Check out One Day on Earth, a collective, international media project that brings together simultaneous footage from people across the globe. Bard alumnus Daniel Lichtblau '03 is among the participating filmmakers.http://www.onedayonearth.org/

July 2011

The Talloires Network is an international association of institutions dedicated to promoting civic engagement in higher education. Each year, they hold a conference to unite university leaders around the world. At the conference, the Talloires Network recognizes exceptional university community engagement programs through the awarding of the MacJannet Prize. In 2011, there were 75 nominations from 56 universities in 26 countries and only eight prizes awarded. BPYI was the only U.S. program to receive the award, which includes a $1,000 cash reward. BPYI is a student-run program that brings 20 Bard College students to Mas’ha, a small village in the West Bank, where they partner with the local community to run children’s summer camps and community service projects, teach English classes and engage in cultural discourse.

June 2011

Norman Manea has been officially invited to become a Fellow of The Royal Society of Literature of Great Britain. He is the first Romanian writer to be so honored. In July, the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York and Bard College presented a special event celebrating the Professor Manea’s 75th birthday, lauded as “one of the most remarkable writers of our time.”http://www.icrny.org/s351-2011-Norman_Manea__A_Celebration.html

May 2011

This documentary about medieval drama—based on Elisabeth Dutton’s production of John Skelton’s Magnyfycence at Hampton Court Palace in May 2010—includes interviews, documentary footage, and both theatrical and cinematic stagings of the play. http://thynkebyggly.org/magnyfycence